Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/199

Rh of the campaign are rich in spiritual fruits. In hospital and on the open field the Christian soldiers met death bravely. Said a young Kentuckian to a minister who asked him; "Do you think you will recover?" "No," said he; "tell my brother that I died in a holy cause, and am ready to meet God."

It is now, looking back from times of great peace, a matter of wonder how men could calmly worship under the fire of formidable batteries. "Late one afternoon," says Rev. C. W. Miller, writing of the scenes on the retreat from Dalton, "the firing along the line had lulled, and the writer called the brigade together for worship. A chapter from the Holy Book had been read, a song sung, and several fervent prayers offered. Presently, while a soldier was praying and all were devoutly kneeling before God, a distant report as of the discharge of artillery was heard; then in an instant whirr, whirr, whirr boom! went a 32-pound shell just above our heads, and buried its fragments in the hillside a little beyond us. But the 'devout soldier' prayed on. Another and another shell shrieked above us, but the prayer was regularly finished, the preacher pronounced the benediction, and the men went to their casemates, as they called their holes in the ground. I have related this incident to show you how indifferent men become to danger under the indurating influence of war." Dr. Bennett gives this interesting statement: "Let us now for a moment leave these noble Christian soldiers, in their happy meetings under the fire of musketry and cannon, and look in upon their comrades who languished in Northern prisons. We have before us a letter, written from Fort Delaware to the Christian Observer, giving an account of a revival among the Confederate officers there confined. They had in the morning at half-past nine an 'inquirer's prayer-meeting;' at 12 m. 'the professor's prayer-meeting, where the church members pray for each other, leading the meeting in turn.' We have here